August 17

Jim’s Corner

I hope you have made your plans to attend this year’s Smokin’ Rodz in the Smokies. We have a lot of neat things planned for our show. Try to get there on Thursday afternoon so you can enjoy the Cruise-in at the Wheels Through Time Museum Kick Off Party. Along with Sam Memmolo and his seminars, Ron Goben is going to present a new type of game that he promises will be a blast. We shouldn’t have any problems finding anyone to play the game after they see what they will win. There will also be a Cruise on Friday evening across the mountain into Cherokee. You are on your own after the cruise to go throw some money at the gambling machines or find a nice place to chow down. Don’t forget to bring any items that you would like to donate to the Silent Auction. We have two food vendors lined up and one of them will be open for breakfast. Also, don’t forget to bring your total of miles driven since we left Maggie Valley last year. You may be the 2017 VSRA Street Rodder of the Year.

I have added another stop on our 2017 Vintage Rod Tour. Jack Chisenhal, owner of Vintage Air, has invited us to do a tour of his facility in San Antonio. Jack is an avid collector/car builder and he has some of his cars on display at his facility. We will do this tour either on Thursday Oct. 12th, if time permits, on our way from Dallas, if not, we can do it on Friday since the festivities at the show does not start till late Friday afternoon.

Electrical Charts

Anyone who gets our Newsletter by a hard copy can request larger hard copies of the Electrical Charts that Ron Goben had in his article last month. I was trying to cut down on pages in last month’s newsletter and I made the copies so small they were hard to read. So if you had a problem reading some or all of them and you would like to have larger copies just let us know and we will send them to you.

Old Car Videos

Thanks to George Hodges for sending these neat videos. Everyone who gets the newletter by a hard copy will not be able to pull these movies up unless you get on a computer. Sorry about that.

As usual, we will be set up at the Frog Follies in Evansville, Ind. on August 25,26 and 27th. This is a great Pre-49 show. If you have never been, you need to go. There are usually around 4,000 real street rods at this show. It’s usually pretty warm, but hey, we’re street rodders and we can take it. Make sure you come by our booth and see us. You are also welcome to park with us if you get there early enough on Friday morning because they will not let us save spots. Our booth is on the left as you are coming in just as you are leaving the trees where the vendors are set up.

Smokin’ Rodz in the Smokies

This year we will be treating all the registered car participants to a free cook-out at our Cruise-in at the Wheels Through Time Museum on Thursday evening from 5-7:00. Also, you will be admitted free to the museum. Dale Walksler, the owner and star of the TV show “What’s in the Barn”, will be on hand with all his stories about his love for motorcycles. Sam Memmolo, the Shade Tree Mechanic, will also be on hand for this Cruise-in. On Friday afternoon we will cruise over the mountain to go to Harrah’s Casino.

We will be having another silent auction this year so if you have any items that you would like to donate, bring them and we will be glad to find them a new home. Don’t forget to have your total miles driven in 2017 because you might be The Street Rodder of the Year for 2017. For all the new members, the Street Rodder of the Year is presented to the member who logs the most miles in one year from the period starting at the end of the Smokin’ Rodz Show until next year’s Smokin’ Rodz Show. You do not have to be present to win. Just send in your miles to us. Also we will present the Pioneer Award to another deserving Street Rodder. The Pioneer Award is presented to a long time Street Rodder who enjoys driving his street rod, shows good character and is always ready to help his follow street rodder with any problems.

Sam Memmolo

Great News!!! We have a special addition to the action at the show in Maggie Valley this year. Sam Memmolo will be in attendance this year. Sam is well known in the automotive world via his TV and Radio show appearances. He has been on air with tech advice shows like Shade Tree Mechanic, Two Guy’s Garage, Motorhead Garage and his current show now running on Velocity TV, Sam’s Garage. He will be a valuable asset to our show with a meet and greet session as well as an Electrical Seminar. He will be there on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for all the fun. So make your plans now to attend this year’s fantastic Smokin’ Rodz in the Smokies.

Thank You Letter from Al Koran Shriners

2017 Vintage Rod Tour

Our 2017 Vintage Rod Tour will begin on Oct. 9th in Chattanooga, Tenn. and end up at the Key to the Hills Pre-49 car show in Boerne, Texas. This year’s Key to the Hills car show will be on Oct. 13-15. We will meet in Chattanooga, Tenn. on Oct. 8th and leave on Monday to travel to Montgomery, Al. On Tuesday we travel to Monroe, La. On Wednesday we travel to Dallas, Texas. Our last travel day will be Thursday when we end up in Boerne, Texas. The Key to the Hills car show is one of the longest running Pre-49 shows around.

The following stops are only suggested stops and you will not be frowned upon if you decide not to make some of them. If you have any other suggestions on where to stop, we will discuss them at our Drivers Meeting that we have every night in the hotel lobby.

Coker Tire and Honest Charlie’s in Chattanooga, Tn

Hanks Williams Museum in Montgomery, Al.

Duck Dynasty Restaurant in Monroe, La.

Lunch at Bodacious BBQ in Tyler, Texas

Cruise-in at Sachse’s Rod Shop in Sachse, Texas

Magnolia Market in Waco, Texas This is the shop owned by hosts of Fixer Upper TV Show.

** This hotel would only block 10 rooms for $70. If we need more than 10 rooms, the rate will be $90 for the rooms above 10. First come gets the best rate. This hotel is close to our Cruise-in and is very cheap for the Dallas area. We were very pleased that we were able to get all the hotels on the tour for under $100.

Let us know if you will be going on this year’s tour and we will send you a tour sticker for your car.

2017 VSRA Events

Street Rod Safari at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, NC May 20

Ohio Nationals in Medina Ohio June 23 and 24

Smokin’ Rodz in the Smokies in Maggie Valley, North Carolina August 11 and 12

Vintage Rod Tour (Key to the Hills) October 8-15

Wayne’s Corner

I hope all VSRA members are looking forward to the upcoming Smoking Rodz in the Smokies Car Show Aug. 11-12 at Maggie Valley, NC. Our Southeastern Division Staff will be on the job to make the show more enjoyable for each and every member in attendance! We had such a good time last year and really look forward to seeing again Gary Dilley's poster car in person. I'm sure that all the VSRA staff will do their best to make the show be a success!

Jim and Debbie Bledsoe have intrusted me with handling the Cruisin the Beaches show October12-14 at Broadway at the Beach, Myrtle Beach, SC, because they will be on the 2017 Vintage Rod Tour. For the last 3 years we have had a VSRA booth at Rodney Buckner’s Show and work "Hard" to sign up new members and pick 5 deserving pre-49 Show Cars for winner plaques. The show draws between 300-400 cars to sunny Myrtle Beach and join in the fun if you can.

Plans are being formulated to repeat the very successful "Ultimate VSRA North/South Rod Tour" to the Ramblin Oldies of Denham Spring's 2018 R.O.D.S Car Show in Baton Rouge, La. Many of our hardy members joined Jim and Debbie as we completed the 1500 mile round trip to the deep south on Mardi-Gras weekend. Just think about a tour to Baton Rouge, La. with all the Mardi-Gras fun and revelry and a great car show thrown in! More to come!

See ya'll at Maggie Valley on Thurs. evening at the Motorcycle Museum Cookout and I sincerely apologize if I identify your sweet ride as a "Kar", cause I was raised in South Boston far up north!